FCC order strengthens pretexting regulations News
FCC order strengthens pretexting regulations

[JURIST] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website] adopted new privacy rules [FCC press release, PDF; order, PDF] for telephone and wireless companies on Tuesday aimed at strengthening safeguards against pretexting [JURIST news archive], the disclosure of personal telephone records to unauthorized individuals. The new rules include carrier authentication requirements, additional notice requirements, and annual certification requirements. Commenting on the new rules, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin [official profile] said in a prepared statement [text, PDF] that the regulations significantly strengthen existing safeguards by requiring express consent before a carrier can give a customer’s phone records to other parties for marketing purposes.

In January, President Bush signed into law [JURIST report] new federal legislation to protect telephone consumers from pretexting. The Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006 [text, PDF] was approved [JURIST report] by the US Senate in December in response to the Hewlett-Packard corporate spying scandal [JURIST news archive] that broke last summer. CNET News has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

China passes current constitution

On December 4, 1982, the Fifth National People's Congress passed the current Constitution of China.

FDR established Federal Alcohol Control Administration

On December 4, 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA) by executive order under the National Industrial Recovery Act just prior to the formal end of Prohibition. FACA was charged with guiding legitimate wineries and distilleries under a system based on brewers' voluntary codes of fair competition. It effectively vanished from history after just twenty months, when President Roosevelt in August 1935 signed the Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA) Act, lodging alcohol regulation exclusively with the US Treasury Department, where it currently remains under the jurisdiction of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, formerly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF).